Agnieszka Pawełczyk1, Emila Łojek2, Natalia Żurner3, Marta Gawłowska-Sawosz4, Piotr Gębski5, Tomasz Pawełczyk6. 1. Department of Affective and Psychotic Disorders, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland. agpawelczyk@gmail.com. 2. University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland. 3. Adolescent Ward, Central Clinical Hospital of Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland. 4. SYNAPSIS Foundation, Warsaw, Poland. 5. Scanlab Diagnostyka Medyczna Księży Młyn, Medical Examination Centre, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland. 6. Department of Affective and Psychotic Disorders, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Higher-order language disturbances could be the result of white matter tract abnormalities. The study explores the relationship between white matter and pragmatic skills in first-episode schizophrenia. METHODS: Thirty-four first-episode patients with schizophrenia and 32 healthy subjects participated in a pragmatic language and Diffusion Tensor Imaging study, where fractional anisotropy of the arcuate fasciculus, corpus callosum and cingulum was correlated with the Polish version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery. RESULTS: The patients showed reduced fractional anisotropy in the right arcuate fasciculus, left anterior cingulum bundle and left forceps minor. Among the first episode patients, reduced understanding of written metaphors correlated with reduced fractional anisotropy of left forceps minor, and greater explanation of written and picture metaphors correlated with reduced fractional anisotropy of the left anterior cingulum. CONCLUSIONS: The white matter dysfunctions may underlie the pragmatic language impairment in schizophrenia. Our results shed further light on the functional neuroanatomical basis of pragmatic language use by patients with schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE: Higher-order language disturbances could be the result of white matter tract abnormalities. The study explores the relationship between white matter and pragmatic skills in first-episode schizophrenia. METHODS: Thirty-four first-episode patients with schizophrenia and 32 healthy subjects participated in a pragmatic language and Diffusion Tensor Imaging study, where fractional anisotropy of the arcuate fasciculus, corpus callosum and cingulum was correlated with the Polish version of the Right Hemisphere Language Battery. RESULTS: The patients showed reduced fractional anisotropy in the right arcuate fasciculus, left anterior cingulum bundle and left forceps minor. Among the first episode patients, reduced understanding of written metaphors correlated with reduced fractional anisotropy of left forceps minor, and greater explanation of written and picture metaphors correlated with reduced fractional anisotropy of the left anterior cingulum. CONCLUSIONS: The white matter dysfunctions may underlie the pragmatic language impairment in schizophrenia. Our results shed further light on the functional neuroanatomical basis of pragmatic language use by patients with schizophrenia.
Entities:
Keywords:
Diffusion tensor imaging; Extralinguistic skills; First episode schizophrenia; Pragmatic language; White matter
Authors: Muhammad Farid Abdul-Rahman; Anqi Qiu; Puay San Woon; Carissa Kuswanto; Simon L Collinson; Kang Sim Journal: PLoS One Date: 2012-01-05 Impact factor: 3.240